This weekend I will be joining our Maple Ridge Campus in celebrating and saying farewell to Pastor Mark & Jenni Colwell. For seven years the Colwell’s have served us with prayerfulness and hard work. Although Mark was the Campus Pastor in MR, he also served on the CLA Ministry Lead Team giving insight and oversight to the whole of CLA. Pastor Jenni, also on the MLT, served for six years at the Langley Campus directing our kids. Their love, creativity and desire to make disciples has been a huge blessing. With both now serving at the British Columbia District of the PAOC (Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada) we are sending our best to strengthen and equip the larger Church Body. They will continue to call CLA their home church. We will continue to pray for them as Jenni coordinates district Family / Kids and Mark coordinates Leadership Development. I am deeply grateful for this couple and their impact on CLA. Sunday night I will hold a Townhall in Maple Ridge to discuss next steps of leadership for the campus.
Next week I will be heading to Peru with Wycliffe Canada and our very own Danny Foster from CanIL (Canada Institute of Linguistics) at TWU. Over a decade ago CLA became part of a Bible translation team in Peru, specifically for the Eastern Apurimac Quechua people. They asked CLA to be a part of the dedication of this new translation work, a work that cost about $350,000. We are humbled to play a small role. This work began in 2006 with the translation of the New Testament and then moved on to the translation of the Old Testament in 2022. Now about 5,000 Bibles have been printed in this language. It’s a long trek to Cusco and on into Abancay in northern Peru but I am happy to represent our church in this great celebration. CLA Missions looks forward to bringing this story back to you for our November edition of Beyond Our Walls. Thank you for supporting the global cause at CLA, we are helping others to make a difference. Pray for my health, safety and anointing as I participate in this great event. Pray for the team and for the impact of this work now that it is complete.
On Sunday, Pastor Rob Bedard will be sharing from God’s Word his final message at CLA. As you heard last week (and if you did not see it, I encourage you to go to our YouTube channel here to watch the end of the service announcement) he too is being commissioned to the BCYD PAOC. I will share more about Rob and celebrate him on his last Sunday on staff, October 12.
